Welcome To The Birdcage
by Tiruneko
Summary: You think you understand pain? You think your version; your image of the world is true? I'll show you pain. Can't you joke with me, just a little? Well, that doesn't matter now. Hey, hey, why aren't you making eye contact? Don't worry about your family; they're going to die anyways. Ah, isn't pain such a funny thing? Welcome, welcome to the birdcage. Shall we begin?
1. Chapter One

**I—I—I One I—I—I**

"You think you understand pain? You think your version; your image of the world is true? I'll show you pain. Oh, don't leave me floundering, sputtering like a mad hare! Can't you joke with me, just a little? Well, that doesn't matter now. Hey, why aren't you making eye contact? Don't worry about your family; they're going to die anyways. Ah, isn't pain such a funny thing? Welcome, welcome to the bird cage."

"But I don't understand!" She cries, lunging forward, stopped abruptly by an invisible force.

"Oh, my darling little song bird, if we understood everything, then life would be so bland, now wouldn't it?"

A set of invisible ropes or thorns begins to intertwine around the girl's ankles, pulling her down slowly, creeping, and winding up her body as she strains her sight to spot the source of the voice somewhere in the blinding white light. A vine, filled with thorns creeps slowly up her neck, squeezing just so tight to make it hard to breathe. One lone branch wraps around her cheek, pricking her just under the eye with a long sharp thorn.

"_Welcome to the bird cage…" _

A girl surges out of a chair, beads of sweat rolling off her face and pooling slowly on the floor. Long puffy locks of pale, nearly white, blonde hair stream out around her head. Bellow her, her black gloves hands rest on her crowded desk, drops of spit clinging to their delicate and intricate fabric. Her wall alarm clock vibrates steadily on the wall above her head. Sparrows chirp over head, flowing in from her cracked bedroom window.

Such a nice day… wouldn't it be nice to just sit here forever, just listening to the birds chirp? But then again, things need to be done. She stands, pacing over to her closet and taking out a large and intricate black sleeveless dress with a large crimson red bow just at the neck line and many other red bows around the bottom of the skirt.

Mayu looks herself in the mirror, wearing a smirk as she adjusts her intricate self-made hair bow with a golden record in the center.

This girl named Mayu, well; she's the town crazy girl. No one has ever seen her in an outfit besides her cosplay, not even her own sister. A life of pointed insanity is a fantastic one to her, always getting looked at, watched, _everyone _always talking about _you. _Ah, how wonderful the whole world is looking through the eyes of the insane. So beautiful.

"Ma-a-a-y-u-u-u-u!" A voice calls loudly from down stairs. "We'll be la-a-a-a-t-e!"

Mayu remains silent, gripping the handle of her umbrella and opening it indoors.

"_Ya' know that brings bad luck, don't ya?" _Mayu spins on her heel, searching for the sound of the voice, but being greeted with an empty feeling, and an even emptier room. Not even the birds are singing. Those precious little song birds…

"M-a-a-a-a-yu-u-u!" The same female voice shouts.

"Coming." She responds without emotion as she opens her bedroom door, walking slowly down the stairs, twirling her umbrella just over her shoulder.

Her sister is a tall girl, the same puffy white-blonde hair, same shimmering amber eyes. SeeU is her name, the classical popular girl, singer, dancer, gymnastics, friends, parties, cheerleading, sports, all the things Mayu gave up on a long time ago. Besides, who needs friends anyways? People are just dead weights to have around. And anyways, sooner or later, they'll start to talk, so why bother? This is how she justifies her loneliness. Spewing things like, "No one understands me!" and "I'll always be alone!" Self betrayal is the easy way to classify self-loathing of _this _degree.

"Sometimes I hope one day you'll wake up and be normal." SeeU grumbles angrily, staring at her sister's old Victorian, gothic mix outfit. She places a hand on her perfectly shaped hips, causing her gold bracelets to jangle. She is wearing an orange tank top and a yellow mini-skirt with tall heeled brown boots.

"Good luck with that." Mayu groans in response, tipping her head down and flinging open their front door.

"Be careful out there as always girls!" Their mother cries from the kitchen, a disembodied voice of false concern.

"Okay, after I drop you off at your little 'café' I'm going straight to the game. You even _think _of calling me during it, I _will _tear every little stitch out of your friggin' umbrella and hat. Got it?" SeeU hisses, pointing a finger in her younger sister's face, pursing her perfect-pink lips and narrowing her eye brows.

"Like I would _hate _to embarrass you." Mayu rolls her eyes, swearing under her breath.

The town is small, very small; everyone knows each other in one way or another. Friends of friends of friends of friends… the cycle just keeps going. Until everyone knows _everything _about _everyone_. This ironically, used to bother Mayu. But now, who could care less? At least everyone knows to stay away from her.

The sky is full of clouds, low hanging and grey, the threat of rain looming. No shadows are cast in the tree tops, birds no longer flit around, and people no longer dot the streets, the occasional child-on-scooter or grandmother-watering-plants no longer there. The sight is comforting to the self proclaimed "loner". Not so much to SeeU.

Shifting uncomfortably, the older girl wraps her arms around her waist turning her face away from the gusts of cold wind muttering, "… maybe you were right about the umbrella thing…"

"_But being correct over one thing doesn't make you wise… now does it?" _The voice is now distinctly female, a charming little voice, carrying throughout Mayu's head, now very loud. The voice is sharp, clear, seductive, intriguing. Her giggles carry, with each rise in pitch making her feel sick to her stomach, the blonde falls to her knees, the umbrella floating off with the wind. SeeU stops abruptly behind Mayu, looking down at her with little to no concern.

"Stop being a drama queen, we got stuff to do…" SeeU grumbles, walking a little past her melodramatic sister.

"…you don't hear it?" She chokes out, voice barely a whisper.

"Oh _please _Mayu. I thought you were over the, 'I'm a misunderstood psychic phase. Get over yourself, everyone else has." Without looking back SeeU keeps walking, but her criticism never reaches her sister's ears.

The world has begun to spin at an unbelievable rate, her own hands just blurry and sweaty blotches of fabric as her stomach threatens to jump out of her mouth. The voice just keeps laughing. Slowly, Mayu moves her hand forward, clawing at the grass to make _any _noise, anything to get SeeU to turn and see her pain, turn and help her breathe. The feeling of inhaling a heavy amount of milk spreads through her body, gagging and choking, she watches through blurry eyes as red liquid drips out of her nostrils. It rolls into her mouth, tasting like metallic mucus. Her breathing is strained, only a matter of time before she runs out of oxygen.

"…sss-s-ee-oo-…" And then, it goes black.

**I—I—IXI—I—I**

The chirping and singing of birds wanders from afar. The feeling of blissfully floating through an ocean surrounds her body, her head filled with only the peaceful sound of wind rustling through flowers and leaves.

Slowly, she forces herself to leave this state, leave this moment of peace, and with agonizing motions, fearing to shatter the silence around, Mayu sits up.

All around her are nothing but vibrant colors, green, pink, red, even purple and white. Flowers are intertwined, wrapped around every branch, bush, stem. Everywhere is beauty. The sky above is a crystal clear blue, dotted with a handful of clouds, as delicate looking as a crystal chandelier. A flock of birds, sparrows speckled with dots of dark brown and laced with nearly golden wings race each other overhead. Wind glides gently through the air, swaying her masses of white-blonde hair, temporarily effecting her vision. Slowly she breathes in, moving a bare foot forward, tentatively moving down the twisting brown branches towards the sound of moving water. Refusal to look below her consumes the terrified girl, the threat of falling gnawing at her heart, pounding in her chest.

The branch grows into a pearl white floor, and Mayu jumps off, nearly losing her balance and tumbling onto her face. The growing sound of rushing water beacons her, and she gathers herself quickly, charging forward.

Before her is a small creek, only the width of her entire height, head to feet. The water is filled with lily pads, and stones lead across it's clear waters where koi fish are busily swimming about. Mayu ducks under a branch filled with lush green leaves and yellow bunches of flowers to see, grey bars. Silver bars upon silver bars racing upwards, as high as she can see. The path leading across the stream leads into a rectangular room, with no front wall. Lining the back of its bare walls is one barred window hanging above a stone bench lines with red cushions.

Behind her she hears footsteps approaching, her last conscious memories coming back painfully, the feeling of drowning in her own blood.

Turning, with terror in her viens, she surveys the girl before her, a girl with long teal strands of hair, a wide smile on her face, eyes hidden by the shadows of flowers ahead, wrapped around her hands are many vines, lined with thorns, and a large crow sits atop her head.

"Welcome Mayu, welcome to the bird cage."


	2. Chapter Two

**Thanks to the first reviewers for this story, midnightestrella and pseudocalibrator. Always appreciated! ^^**

_**~Tiruneko ;3**_

* * *

**I—I—I Two I—I—I **

"Wha-?" Mayu brings her right hand up to her face, folding up her hand and placing the knuckle of her pointer finger in her open pink lips, biting down gently, to hide the fact her mouth was hanging open. An instinctual move on her part, never let anyone see your fear.

The girl with the vines moves gracefully, almost as if floating above the ground, moving as one mass, vines and all. Her hips sway gently with each movement, a sight one would see at a pageant or fashion show. She moves with the demeanor of a model, performing a show for an invisible audience.

"You're a little song bird now, all dressed up, ready to sing. Can you perform for me little bird? Or will you fall into the vines as well?" The vine girl's hands close around Mayu's chin, pulling her close, freezing her in place.

"Lemme' go…" Mayu struggles as the vine girl's grip tightens.

"Is that your song? Hmm, a curious song indeed, ne crow? Very well song bird." The vine girl steps forward slowly, her tattered white dress swaying gently across her pale skin. "Time to make your nest." Without warning, vines stretch out from behind the vine girl, racing forward with incredible speed, almost impossible to see with the naked human eye. The force they create explodes across Mayu's shoulders, and she rockets backwards, smashing into the concrete wall of the bizarre rectangular room. The room lacks a front wall, and from the ceiling where a wall should be, spiked vines begin to stretch and grow, creating a barred front, much like a jail cell.

"Where am I!" Mayu screams as loud as she can from her position on the cold floor.

"Oh, I thought I had introduced that already. The bird cage. Welcome to the birdcage little song bird. Oh, I thought I had said that already. Oh, had I said that already my crow?" The vine girl asks, addressing the bird on her head. In response the bird cranes its neck forward at an awkward angle, uttering a bizarrely distorted and strained caw, sounding almost like the shrieks of a human. "Oh, I _had _said that already. Very well then, my little song bird, I have introduced that already." With that the crow takes off of the vine girl's head, flapping down and landing on one of the stones in the creek just in front of Mayu's cage.

The girl covered in vines turns around, back facing Mayu, then she begins to walk forward, calmly, just walk. Mayu blinks, not slowly, not intentionally fast, just blinks, on instinct. She blinks like all humans must. When she opens her eyes the vine girl is gone. Vanished entirely, just gone, leaving Mayu and the crow alone together, one in a cell, the other in a larger cell. A much larger cell, to be precise.

"I don't think you can help me, can you." With a sigh Mayu turns away, hiding her face and the tears she can feel burning her eyes. "No, I guess not. You are just a crow, huh? This has to be just a dream… none of this is real. None of it…" She smacks herself in the head. "You may be insane, but this is just a dream and you know it, and that's just a dumb ol' crow, and you know that too, so shut up Mayu."

"Oi, I'm not dumb, or _ol' _for that matter!" An irritated voice mocks, trying to make fun of and replicate Mayu's bizarre speech by stressing the way she said old.

Mayu darts upwards, racing forward and standing, almost foolish enough to place a hand on the spiked vine. Before her stands a short girl, with short and choppy black hair, resembling the color of crows' feathers, and the layers of her hair replicating the way the feathers on a bird fall. She has two white clips pinning back long bangs, and her body is covered with a thin layer of grey and black feathers, the only piece of actual clothing on her is a yellow and black belt around her waist. She has piercing amber eyes, the color of a warm flashlight on a cold October night.

"You, where'd that crow go? Where'd that girl go?" Mayu asks, very confused and tired.

"You need to sleep girly. You'll get sick at this rate. Tell you what, you need some food, you can't get any from in there, and it isn't safe to test _him _at this point. So I'll make a deal with you 'new girl'. I'll go get you food, and hell, I'll go get you medicine-food, but you've gotta' cover for me. And you'll owe me. So one thing for two things, per-say. If Miku, or heaven forbid _he _shows up, distract them, trick them. But whatever you do, don't lie. You hear me girly? _Don't lie." _The crow girl says, never breaking eye contact while wearing a sly smile.

"Who-who's Mi-lu?" Mayu asks the girl. She has, undoubtedly, hundreds more questions she could ask, but the only concrete one she can verbalize, is to ask who Miku is.

"Miku, M-e-e-k-u-u, she's the girl I was riding on, the one with the teal hair. She's the assistant to _him_. Watch out for her, she can hurt you, but she can't _hurt _you. Got it?"

"N-no." Mayu's reply is garbled, nearly bordering a foreign language.

"Okay. Well I'm off. My name is Rui, by the way. But everyone calls me crow." The girl adds.

"I'm not everyone." Mayu responds dryly.

"Tch-tch-tch. Someone has ta' teach you." Rui mutters before turning on her heel. She begins to run, feet hitting each smooth stone across the stream, like a game of hop scotch. At the end of the trail, the turns, making a small bow before running back up the vine Mayu ran down to get here. Rui tackles the thing hanging over what seems to be an abyss easily, without fear of falling, she just runs sloppily, not even bothering to put one foot before the other.

**I—I—IXI—I—I**

A girl relaxes somewhere, who knows where? Her foot hangs off a high tree branch, swinging it back and forth gently, a movement with the wind. Her hands folded behind her head, cushioning it from the large trunk of the tree she's nestled herself in, she munches lazily on a large, very purple rose.

She is dressed in warm colors, shades of orange, yellow, and red, you know don't you? The earth tones? Ah, well of course you do.

Besides the point, there she is, nearly asleep in the tree, head lolling back and forth, waiting. Waiting for what you might ask? Well waiting for anything really. Really anything.

"Rin!" A voice shouts loudly. The girl shoots up in her position, rocking back and forth in the branch she struggles to maintain any kind of balance. Then, she slips, hurling towards the ground. Footsteps rush bellow her, hurrying to grab the falling girl, but before the owner of the footsteps can become the hero...

Blood splatters everywhere, flying out in all directions chaotically, with no pattern. Like dropping a water balloon from the top of a building, does the water fly out in an orderly fashion? No, of course not. Much like the water balloon did Rin's blood fly as she hit the ground.

"Rin!" The male voice screams, his hands racing up and down the form of the once beautiful yet sheepish blonde girl. "God dammit! Sorry Rin, I really am. But you have to admit, that was _waaay _funnier than just dropping water on your head." The boy adds with a chuckle.

"But it hurt worse. Gosh Len, ow." Rin groans, rubbing the back of her head and looking up at the identical boy through the occasional drop of blood from her soaked hair.

"Em-erm-uh… e-e-t-o, uhrmm… master sent me. He said to deliver a message." A shy and shaky male voice calls. The two blonde twins on the ground turn their heads to see a boy, identical in physical appearance to the blonde boy except for his dark hair.

"What does he want _now,_ Rei?" The blonde boy Len asks, sitting up and looking him in the eye.

"He said, 'Tell the twins to go get acquainted with the new little bird-y.'" Rei repeats while shifting uncomfortably.

"Oh, boy will we." Len says, a smirk unfolding on his face.


End file.
